In this Demo Spotlight, I use the Deadzone Rogue and Deadzone Rogue 2 logos to express which game is which. The Deadzone Rogue 2 beta was played on PC while the first game was played on an Xbox Series S.

Introduction

Alright, so I know what you’re thinking: this wasn’t technically a beta, and you would be correct. I decided to put this under the Demo Spotlight label because it seemed like a better fit for doing these open and closed betas.

So Deadzone Rogue 2 is the sequel to Deadzone: Rogue, a game that I actually covered around 9 months ago. It’s a rogue-lite FPS that had okay storytelling and really fun weapons. The first game lacked customization, but man, did it make up for it in almost every other way. 

In truth, I really enjoyed the first game. So when I saw that the sequel had an open beta, I couldn’t download it fast enough. 

Now, this open beta did have some issues. Particularly with the controller buttons not working, so I often had to switch back to a mouse, real quick. I don’t really care because it’s an open beta. We were testing something, but it is something that I wanted to point out here because you can see in my video that my cursor changes quite a bit.

Improvements everywhere

Right away, you’re hit with an improvement. Which is the start screen. I know most people probably don’t really care about this, but it really makes all the difference to me when I start a game, and I am met with something crisp, clean, and fluid. To go along with what I feel like is an improved title screen, you also get improved sound effects, which you can hear as soon as the game starts, particularly with the rain. 

Diving into the game, you’re met with voice acting. They give you a complete recap of what happened in the first game, which I really appreciate because I honestly don’t remember how it ended. This recap features a great sequence with really good voice acting. Honestly, it was fun to listen to. But when it’s over, you’re thrown into the hub area, or what’s left of it anyway.

From the get-go, you can see a clear difference in the lighting, the particles, and all of the sculpting that went into making the environment. I made sure to show you some comparisons, so be sure to take a look! But I am extremely impressed, in particular, with how the water looks when it’s hitting metal.

The upgrade system has been completely revamped. Not only does the UI look different, but the functions appear to be different as well, and this is a change that I welcome because it helps push the game into feeling more like a sequel. Across the board, the UI has been completely overhauled, and it looks gorgeous. It’s not intrusive; everything’s a little slicker, and I really appreciate the work that the team did to kind of bring the UI into a more cohesive look here. 

You also get three different suits to choose from. Of course, I took the tank because, well, if you know me, you’ll know that I most often will play a tank, if not some kind of support. Each one of the suits has a different design, which I really like, even though you’re really not seeing more than your hands and forearms. I assume that this will be expanded upon when the game releases. But I do look forward to seeing how these changes make multiplayer feel. I didn’t get to play this one with a partner. But I’m assuming there’s going to be more build variety going forward, which is always exciting.

Build Variety Expanded 

I really want to keep touching on the idea that the build variety has been expanded from the first game. Because it’s something that I could even feel while I was playing the open beta. It’s hard to explain. But I think the progression of upgrades and skills you get as you play has been significantly improved. Not only in their variety but also in all of the animations at play when selecting an ability or upgrade. I think that the RNG could use a little work, but the positives of this whole system outweigh the negatives for me. 

The elemental abilities and the upgrades for those abilities have also been improved; not only does the elemental proc¹ look better, but the upgrades to the elemental abilities are much better number-wise in this game. The damage just makes more sense, and on top of all of that, the way that elemental effects stack makes a lot more sense now. For example, as you stack fire on your weapons and armor, you can actually feel the number increase in a way that makes combat pop.

Environmental Design 

Deadzone: Rogue didn’t have awful environments by any stretch, but for the most part, nothing in the first game stuck with me. But within the first fifteen or so minutes of Deadzone Rogue 2, I was already falling in love with the way the environment flowed during the beta. The lighting is a huge improvement from the first game. 

Environmental Storytelling 

Deadzone Rogue 2 definitely carries over one of my favorite parts of the first game: the environmental storytelling. I noticed improvements in dialogue delivery, scenery placement and scenery cohesion, and set design in general. 

Interestingly, I think both games do the environmental storytelling well. Deadzone: Rogue has obviously had more time for placement and expansion. But the team behind Deadzone Rogue 2 seems to have learned a lot when it comes to telling their story. The placement of lore bits feels more intentional.

1. Proc meaning the chance to trigger an elemental effect. Such as lighting an enemy on fire. ↩︎

To cap things off…

Before I get out of here, there is something I have to gush about, which is the actual combat. I saved this for last because I really feel like I’m rambling, but whatever. 

I never got Deadzone: Rogue to feel quite right on my Xbox Series S. The game didn’t have the best sensitivity even after spending hours playing with the settings, at least for me. That didn’t stop me from playing the game, though. Deadzone: Rogue gives me a specific kind of comfort that few other rogue-lites can. It joins a very short list of rogue-lites in general that I actually enjoy playing for long periods of time. 

I love how combat feels in Deadzone: Rogue. The enemies are satisfying to kill, the weapons are mostly satisfying to use, and I love the general theme of the game. Now, I say that the weapons are mostly satisfying to use because in the first game I only really fell in love with 5 of the weapons at most. I really disliked every shotgun, the minigun felt clunky, and I could do without most of the side arms in the game. 

In Deadzone Rogue 2, I had no complaints about a single weapon. In fact, I loved the combat so much that as I write this, I am irritated that I can’t play more of the game. Every single weapon in the beta was fun to use, every upgrade was fun to experience, and to top it all off, the enemies were extremely fun to face. 

The side arms in Deadzone Rogue 2 stole the show for me, which is why they appear in so much of my footage. Everything about the weapons got an improvement, and everything feels like it belongs to the world of Deadzone Rogue 2. Which is why I can say with certainty that I can’t wait for the sequel.